Modular Home Plans

The best-built modular home plans offer better quality for less money.

Quality: It’s in Modular Home Plans

Modular home plans for construction have become the construction method of choice for the quality conscious and cost conscious house buyer.

There are many reasons why the best-built modular homes are considered superior to the vast majority of "stick built" homes (that is, homes built entirely on-site). Why? The best-built modular homes from modular home plans are not just as good as the vast majority of stick built homes -- they are better built.

The advantages are many, from better materials, to state-of-the-art construction technology, to superior finished quality, to saved time and money. This article describes the quality feature of construction from modular home plans.

The best built modular homes from modular home plans offer better quality for less money. The structural integrity of a modular home is its main claim to superior quality.

Here are some of the factors that produce superior quality:

Better Equipment: By design, modular factories are able to use larger, more powerful, and more sophisticated equipment. Because all main components are assembled with jigs, precision control is ensured. This means that every home is built exactly as it was designed, with all corners square and all walls plumb. In stick building, the carpenters often have to use "creative" techniques to make things fit because measurements are seldom exact.

Climate Control: Building in a modern modular home factory means building under climate-controlled conditions. This enables manufacturers to eliminate two problems, which plague stick builders, particularly in the Northeast. First, it allows them to avoid weather-related defects: moisture saturation by the lumber, drywall and insulation; warping of walls and doors; freezing and cracking of brittle materials; and other ravages of the elements. Secondly, a factory environment enables modular companies to avoid weather-related delays that prevent the customer from keeping his or her move-in date on schedule.

Materials: Only the highest quality, kiln dried lumber can be used, because warped, badly knotted or splintered pieces would jam the finely tuned assembly line jigs. This means that better materials, applied with tighter specifications, go into modular homes.

Better Construction: Because modular homes have to be shipped over the road, they are built stronger than more conventionally built homes. Major components, such as walls, floors, and ceilings, are not only nailed together, as in stick built homes, they are also bonded with a special adhesive. This double fastening enables modular homes to be sturdy enough to withstand miles of travel, something no stick built house could survive without serious structural damage. Another advantage of using adhesive to secure walls and ceilings is that they are less likely to be plagued by annoying nail pops.

Tighter Construction: The tighter construction of modular homes greatly improves their energy efficiency. For example, hand packed insulation around electrical fixtures and caulking along exterior sheathing seams helps to eliminate infiltration of cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer.

Quality Control: Superior quality in modular construction is first ensured by the manufacturer's compliance with national, state, and local building codes. To verify this compliance, each building plan is inspected by a state-approved third party inspection agency, which certifies that the house will meet the most stringent state construction standards. Sticks built plans rarely receive this much expert review.

Once construction begins, modular homes from modular home plans are subjected to far more inspections than stick built homes.

At each stage - from framing to finishing - there are quality control stations set up to monitor the quality of the workmanship. A full-time, seasoned quality control inspector travels from station to station with extensive checklists of performance standards.

Additionally, a specially trained inspector from the state-approved third party inspection agency inspects every home as it moves down the line.

The additional costs incurred by this system are more than compensated for by the reduction in service work in the field.

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